The Elite Squad and the Aesthetics of Brazilian Social Violence

• In Event: Theorizing Violence in Latin American Cinema

Abstract

The aesthetics of violence in Brazilian films is generally represented through a joint view of violence and social exclusion. Under a diverse perspective, this paper has as its scope the development of a political, social and cultural analysis of violence. It is about comprehending the cinematographic representation of violence, perpetuated by State agents and usually accepted by the Brazilian society, that, however, does not accept or sensitizes (on the contrary, it gets shocked and enraged), when violence follows from marginalized groups. In order to do so, the filme “Elite Squad – The Enemy Within” will be explored, denoting points referring to the public clamor that a considerable change should happen as regards the public security system. Paradoxically, the same public stands up for lowering violence that comes from the margin of society, through the recrudescence of the police apparatus, while other expressions of violence are accepted and normalized: political corruption, exploration of people on the margin of society through illicit practices and paramilitary disputes, besides psychological violence. In fact, in a society where homo homini lupus, the debate about the choices humanity must take to combat, simultaneously, violence and rights violations persists, especially in countries of late development, as those situated in Latin America and the place where the film takes place. Tracing a comparative line among these aspects and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it is expected that the present paper fulfills is finality of academic research, uniting concepts, enlarging knowledge about and construction of thought on the subject.

Author

• Daniela Pozzobon de Souza